[TyrekeJonesParticipant]

I know the game is a day away but I was wondering on what everybody’s predictions were for the game, how they expected players to perform such as Wade who now has an injury, Lebron with his mental lapses and for the most part has really had a sub par series for his standards and a player of his caliber. How do you expect both teams to come out, the Heat coming out on a mission to force a Game 7? Or Dallas to close this game out with Dirk having one of his best overall playoff performances of his career.

I originally picked the Heat in 6 games which was realistic if the Heat could of held onto atleast two of their fourth quarter leads but obviously that didn’t happen and it is now Dallas who has a chance to win it in 6 games. My predicition is the Heat to force a Game 7, they play very well on their home court and I expect them to execute exceptionally well on defense and play with intensity the entire game.

What are your predictions?

[Scottoant93Participant]

I see dallas making even more adjusment, look for dirk,jet, and kidd to be taste that ring… I see the mavs closing the door shut for good.. even though I orginally said mavs in 7

[MagikKnickParticipant]

I hope Dallas comes out aggresive, and closes the series out…It’d be great to see JKidd and Dirk win rings and even greater to see Lebron keep waiting 🙂

But, i like to be realistic, and D-Wade is probably gonna come out BLAZING tonight, I love D-Wades competitiveness in the finals, every finals game, he gets close to a Jordan level..and if Lebron can play like…Lebron, then the Heat should get this W. 
 

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

The Mavs need to come out firing, all fired up.  They need to come out strong and get this thing over with.

I think they really need to run with a quick backcourt of Kidd and Barea.  Try to get Dirk some great looks early, and also try to get Tyson Chandler going on offense (if he has a great game then the Mavs will win) as quick as possible.  With the Mavs’ depth I wouldn’t worry about foul trouble.  They shouldn’t take Chandler out until he gets 2 fouls.  If he does go out and if Haywood is still out they need to bring Cardinal in and put him at the 4 with Marion at the 3 and Dirk at the 5 on offense.  Then run the offense through Dirk on the post.  On defense, put Marion on LeBron, with Dirk and Cardinal taking turns defending Bosh/Haslem.  They might be better using Cardinal as the primary defender and use Dirk as a help defender/shot blocker. 

I think Dirk needs to focus on going to the basket and getting to the line.  Easy points for Dirk and it will get the Heat in foul trouble. 

I really think that Brian Cardinal is giving the Mavs some good minutes off the bench.  He is matching Haslem’s intensity and effort (if not production).  I think that backup power forward is the new glamour position with the success of the Haslem on the Heat, Gibson on the Bulls, Collison on the Thunder, and even Darrell Arthur on the Grizzlies.  Now, Cardinal is that guy on the Mavs.  He’s a hard-nosed guy who has gotten some good hits on the Heat players and he even hit a 3 in the last game.  Plus, he is another guy on the Mavs who can get a rebound, use some fouls, and let Chandler rest on the bench.  If he neutralizes Udonis Haslem then the Mavs will have a better chance of winning the game.  … another key for the Mavs are if Brendan Haywood can play (if he can then that will really help the Mavs).  The X factor for the Mavs is Peja.  If he plays and gets hot then he could put them over the top.  If I were the Mavs I would use him at the end of the first and second quarter for the last shot either as a go-to guy or as a decoy.  Peja has only been effective with Dirk in the lineup so they might want to get him some minutes with Dirk and Cardinal/Mahimi on the front line (to get Marion and Chandler some rest) with a good defensive backcourt with Kidd and Stevenson.  That’s a lineup that could use Peja’s scoring and cover for his defensive liabilities (put Kidd on Wade, Stevenson on LeBron, Cardinal on their power forward).  Another thing it does is spread the floor for Dirk and gives the Mavs another perimeter shooter in Peja.  Other than that, they shouldn’t use Peja, but I think they could really use his perimeter shooting.  On defense I guess they could let him guard Mike Miller (if he is playing) or use him to put a body on Joel Anthony and keep him off the boards.  He could also be used as a help defender on the Big Three instead of Dirk.

The Mavs’ bench needs to outscore the Heat bench and they need to keep the rebounding battle close.  As I said before the series started they need to contain LeBron and Bosh and let Wade try to beat them.  Chandler can’t get in serious foul trouble, Kidd has to control the tempo and 2 of the other 3 perimeter guys need to score well on offense (Barea, Terry, Stevenson).  Haywood would help, if not they need a decent showing from Mahimi as well as 12-15 good minutes out of Cardinal and Peja. Shawn Marion needs to fill in the blanks and have another good game (16-20 points, 8 plus rebounds, some good passing, and great defense).  Then hold the Big Three to 65-70 points or fewer.  In game 2 they held them to 68 points (if Wade hit that 3 to win the game it would have given the Big Three 71 points), in games 3 and 4 they scored 64 both times.  In game 5 the Big Three were held to 59 points.  

[B-ball fanParticipant]

 I think they win, as Miami has been very reliant on Wade and would be in trouble if he had a bad shooting night or couldn’t turn the corner like he did earlier in the series.  I do expect Wade to fight through and come up with a good game, but Miami needs him to be dominant.  Both teams have made excellent adjustments, but I think the Mavs’ benching of Stojakovic and change of the starting line-up made a big difference.  I see there being another shootout like game 5, which favors the superior offensive team, the Mavs.  

I think getting an early lead in the series was more important for Miami than Dallas.  Dallas is such a veteran, well coached team with such versatile personnel that they can find and exploit an opponent’s weaknesses in a long playoff series.  Miami has adjusted as well, by hitting the roll man on the pick and roll more effectively, and by looking to get in transition more, but Dallas’ shift of Barea in to push the tempo and allow Stevenson to spell Marion, as well as their expanding use of Terry handling over multiple picks (they have done this all series, but they have used different, even more effective variations in the past 2 games) has trumped Miami’s adjustments to some extent.  

[ChrischiParticipant]

Miami will take this and force a game 7 which they’ll also win to make this series epic. In ten years people will talk about how nobody believed in them but they still pulled it out to start a run and win 3-4 in a row.

Would be cooler though if my Mavs just win this game.

[KayjayParticipant]

If Lebron isn’t the usual Lebron that we see. You can kiss Miami good by. That injury should be close to non existant for wade. It was a bruise/contusion. No big deal. This one like all games is going to come down to the last strife. Its going to depend just how desperate Wade and Bron are to get this ring and if Bosh can handle such pressure. I’m going to say though, that Miami wins this one.

The only reason I say that is because they can play the defense they want now instead of worrying about breathing on Dirk and sneezing on him for a foul. You get aggressive with the Mav’s and they melt like always. I think the Ref’s won’t be protecting them nearly as much this time around. Idk though, but I say Miami takes this one.

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

 i say dallas wins either game 6 or 7 

i just dont see them losing this series

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

THIS IS WHAT NO POINTS HAS LEAD ME TO DO! MAKE INSANE PREDICTIONS! 

Well, whatever, I will say 97-89 Miami, and I can only base that on incredible hope for Miami too win the championship. I want to see LeBron James be amazing and I know he has the ability to be one. Can not wait to see what happens, should be a great game, as long as Miami stays competitive, I will be happy. Been a really fantastic NBA Finals thus far because of how competitive it has been.

[Author]

Posts